music: guitarist Steve Howe ignored

How can Steve Howe not be on the December 2010 Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists list? He was winning guitarist of the year polls throughout the 70s!! Even if you ignore his skills on classical, fingerpicking, flamenco, pedal steel, and slide (“Going for the One”!), his clattering wail solos put him on the list.

The fantastic interplay on the intro here shows his group skills (close your eyes and it’s almost an Allman Brothers Band jam) then the solo at 5:42, the building chorus at 6:20 into the bridge and then the liquid solo at 6:50 is phenomenal, then another killer at 7:35. And the same guy did the crazed genre-busting mashup on the jazz-rock “Sound Chaser”!

He was winning guitar polls throughout the 70s and now forgotten by the mainstream and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?! It’s insane. Rolling Stone writer David Fricke put him at 69, but they polled a lot of musicians as well.

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2 Responses to music: guitarist Steve Howe ignored

  1. Hoosiersmoker says:

    Yeah he put him behind guitarists like Duane Allman and GEORGE HARRISON?????? BB King, Chuck Berry and Garcia can be argued but GEORGE HARRISON! or Keith Richards (# 10 on the list WTF???) And Angus Young # 96????? REALLY Who is this idiot that he lets popularity determine best guitarist????? Only qualified guitarists and people with musical knowledge should be able to vote! Fricke is an idiot!

    • skierpage says:

      True, but as far as I can tell the musicians in the poll left Steve Howe out altogether. I’m glad you like him too, keep promoting his exceptional contributions, but there’s little upside to insulting the musical taste of others.

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